Beep Boop!
(I've let the page sit for a minute or so, and it hasn't concluded that I am not a bot yet, but also, I'm aware I look weird - Firefox, with Javascript JIT disabled, with no GPU acceleration)
I don't know what it's using on the backend, but it doesn't seem to pass for me, and doesn't give me the usual option to pick a baby chicken from a baby duck to prove I'm human.
> WEBGL_debug_renderer_info is deprecated in Firefox and will be removed. Please use RENDERER. v1:1:102781
> Turnstile Widget seem to have crashed: 9icuj api.js:1:17810
> Uncaught TurnstileError: [Cloudflare Turnstile] Error: 300030. > https://urlshortenersaresoyesterdaytrythisamazingsuperlongur... B2SIiwBB.js:9
sigh
I don't have WebGL support, so I can't use a URL lengthener, because the bot checker appears to crash shortly after. Someone stop this timeline, I want to get off.
The worst is probably hCaptcha. It asks up to 10 machine-translated questions involving machine-generated images to prove the user is not a machine. Something about this is funny to me.
This isn't the first time CloudFlare blocks me, but usually it's a CloudFlare page shown before the actual site's page renders.
Internet Service Denier
urlshortenersaresoyesterdaytrythisamazingsuperlongurlexpander.site/inccrimsoncrawdadbarbadosmandaringratianaplokoon982helpfulbluegiraffenicaraguabelarusianchickielobotjuniorreddormouseunitedstateschhattisgarhirosalindeyodadistantambertunavaticancitydeccanlisettedexterjettsterrunningamaranthbadgeriranturkmenellettericoli271mixedscarleterminediegogarciadutchmabeldudboltworldwidescarletsquirrelgermanyswedishdarceyanakinskywalkeroriginalcoffeetigermontenegrogermanshirleeslymoorevoluminousgreenharrierniuekhmernataleewilhufftarkinmagnificentwhiteguineafowlgreenlandczechfedericafinisvalorum998uniquecoralcranemalaysiafrenchcamilejektonoporkinsconsistentblackgeckocubaxiangdorolisationmedoncheapblackrattlesnakestkittsnevisawadhilonnieyodapleasedvioletcephalopodmoldovaenglishdulcidormthaithaithaigeneticchocolatecaniddiegogarciajavaneseursalationmedondirectlavendercockroachbangladeshkurdishlaurenetarffuldevotedorangemosquitogreecesundaneseannmariebiggsdarklighterpuzzledroseladybugpakistanxhosailysadarthvaderlinguisticorangemackerellibyaukrainianaleecejabbadesilijictiuretastyteallungfishsouthafricagreekhermionegasganoenthusiasticredemugibraltarbalochioliycordpogglethelesserpogglethelesserpogglethelessermedievalvioletgalliformlesothokonkanimarshawattamborviciousbronzemonkeyswedenbelarusianginniferchewbacca712obedienttealplatypusmaldivesromanianjamieniennunb320visibleemeraldopossumazerbaijanmalagasysissiesaeseetiinripescarletswifttristandacunhailocanomellaaylasecura423formidablegreenguanacoswazilandkazakhcorabelleslymooreholyivoryhippopotamuscookislandsmalagasyelonoregregartyphopetiteaquamarinepeacockalgeriasinhalabarbrapadmamidalaoutstandingoutstandingoutstandingnativeamaranthaardwolfbruneivietnamesegillanlandocalrissian619gangangannetgreenlandfowlecuadormalagasyestrellitabibfortunashakysapphirecanideritreasylhetielsayaraelpoof923funpeachgayalindiasinhalarhetahansolovisibletealparrotfishlaoskoreandaniellamasameddaintacttealwoodpeckerswazilanddeccandaveenroostarpalstopcopperperchphilippinesminansticeyodaquintessentiallimeheronfrenchguianaakanronnidarthvaderneutraltancaribouunitedstateszulunathaliequarshpanakaserbiaserbiaserbiacruelaquashrewchristmasislandmaithilicherinsanhillsecurecoffeehummingbirdguadeloupeakansarajanewattamborracialtancaterpillarcomorosxhosacorinnecord487resultingrednarwhalpitcairnislandsrussiancatidookugrossindigodovepanamahindifaydrajarjarbinksplannedvioletrabbitnetherlandsspanishalissadarthmaulfranticscarlettarsiermontserratsylhetijudithamonmothmapatientplumgorillairelandmarathichristianzamwesellrareturquoisebasiliskarubasaraikisuehansolo740governingredbatargentinamossialyseniennunbvagueamethystwaspfinlandpunjabicherrieethkoth601diplomatictansilverfishtokelaugankelliedormmandarinmandarinmandarinrelaxedharlequinfroggrenadaukrainianalviniawattamborattractiveblackprawnisraelquechuasherriemacewinduoldcyansquirrelaustraliajapanesemerridiec3pocheerfulamberparrotslovakiauyghurstefaniadarthvadermixedcopperbasilisktanzaniateluguzarahlamasuvocationalwhitemammalliberiaurdujemimabiggsdarklighterimportantazurechimpanzeeseychellesharyanvileeseplokooncausalyellowbarracudamaltahmonggertrudchewbaccaagreeableivoryclamguatemalatamilpapagenaslymooresmoggyvioletarmadilloascensionislandchewaconstancefinisvalorumserioustealthrushfrenchguianaigboclaudinaraymusantilles929sensiblefuchsiacapybaraelsalvadorbalochimirabellapadmamidalaslimyharlequinbuzzardjapansaraikimildridr4p17107dailydailydailymanypurplechameleonnigeriahindihillarychewbaccasingleturquoisebarnaclemartiniqueburmesefarandbobafettcooltealperchsouthgeorgiasouthsandwichislandsmarwaritiertzadexterjettstercapitalistmagentaunicornunitednationssylhetilannyroostarpalsamazingazurecrayfishmaldivesmandarinstormynutegunrayretiredbronzehorsecubajapanesecaroyodacolonialgreenboobystvincentgrenadinessindhisapphirekiadimundiromanticamethystplanariancameroonrussiankaritaluminaraunduli650remarkableapricotpigeonrunionchhattisgarhilelawicketsystriwarrickslipperywhitemolealbaniamadureseednawattambor239
Most of all, I love the fact that, unlike URL shorteners, there's no need to maintain a database of redirects.
I do wonder what the actual encoding scheme is, and how robust it is to lopping off chunks of the URL, since there's presumably lots of room for redundancy...
https://urlshortenersaresoyesterdaytrythisamazingsuperlongur...
This reminded me of a backend-less filesharing site I once made
> © 1999 url shorteners are so yesterday try this amazing super long url expander . All rights reserved.
I tried to confirm that, but the Internet Archive and Wayback Machine are still down.
- add a donation button and buy a dedi from it - turn off the bot detection
thank me later ig
urlshortenersaresoyesterdaytrythisamazingsuperlongurlexpander.com is still available
With a URL _lengthener_ though, you don't need it at all. The sheer amount of possible outcomes means that the odds of ever getting two of the same is infinitesimally tiny.
The only issue unique to shorteners is avoiding collisions, but giving each machine a different range can be done super easily by hand. No frameworks.
As a trivial example, consider a URL base64-ifier. You enter the URL, it spits out base64urlifier.example/?base64=[encoded URL] - this is trivially done in Javascript based on the inputs. To redirect, all you need to do is go to that URL, and the Javascript reads the query parameter, de-base64s it, and redirects you there. No need for anything server side.
If you designed the service like this (which you have more than enough entropy for in the lengthening side of things - encoding 200 bytes of URL in 5 bytes of shortened link is hard, encoding 200 bytes of URL in 4kb of URL is easy), you wouldn't have any server side components beyond "serving some HTML and Javascript." Put it in a static file host, use the free tier of Cloudflare, and you can scale basically infinitely without any actual server load (if your service is barely used, hits to the static host backend are cheap, and if it's being used heavily, it's always in cache so never hits the backend).
There's no reason every web service needs a webserver, database, and anti-bot services.
It should instead append at the end of the URL some 1000-character long token with a ton of other irrelevant arguments.
You know, exactly how Google Search loves to do when you right-click a search result and the address gets brutally scrambled.